etymologically of later origin. It is a mystery indeed, but one that I am not looking forward to solving. If the expression of agony and sadness I witnessed on the fossilized face of that unfortunate creature I saw earlier is any indication of what I am about to experience, I am not encouraged. Two hundred and seventy-seven years of torture. Is that what I should expect when I live his life?
I am left with the irony of impatience as I wait a mere ten minutes for the Control Core to configure the Sub-human Sphere for my immersion. There was no WOOM installed. Why would there be if it was never intended for human visitation? I would be the first human to set foot inside it and the first and only person to walk the mindscape of a being whose thought processes would probably be completely alien to my own.
I stand outside the door, waiting, pacing, worrying. A part of me begs me to leave, to simply wait, because Qod is too powerful and wise to simply die in such a quick and insignificant way and to endure the pains of a creature who is not only genetically different from a human, but atomically different too, is foolhardy. But I have to go. I am compelled to do so, not just because of the sense of urgency that is steadily growing but because of the unpredictability, the sense of mystery, and the lure of the unknown. There is danger in that sphere, and I yearn to embrace it. I long to feel the reality of it, knowing thatâalthough the life itself is mere memoryâthe risk of exploring it is not a simulation. Most of my life has been a journey of virtual reality, but this . . . this is real danger. I do not know what the long-term results of an immersion like this will be, and Qod is not here to dissuade me.
The door opens.
I am used to seeing the cool aquamarine colors of the Bliss Sphere, but this is very different. The sphere colors usually match the moodâsensory hints about the type of experience awaiting the user. In here the mood is foreboding. The light is subdued. Gray gloom with the faint golden luminescence of a million soul files lining the walls. It reminds me of an overcast sky swollen with storm clouds behind which a bright sun struggles to peek through. I stand in the doorway, torn. A new WOOM levitates at the sphereâs center, waiting like a dark god to unfold its shroud, embrace me, then suffocate me within its greasy folds.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Select.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Subhuman. Possible incompatibility.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Aberration detected.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Override authorizedâID Salem Ben.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Activate. Immersion commences in three minutes.
Instinctively I ready myself to ignore the standard warning speech that accompanies immersion into a life memory, but Qod is not here, and it does not come. For some reason this worries me. It feels like the removal of a safety rail on the edge of a cliff that I always climb down anyway. As if I only now realize that there has always been someone there to catch me should I fall and that the precautionary chatter was more of a reassurance than a warning. I am in completely new territory. For the first time in millions of years, my palms are sweating.
A multitude of black, hair-thin fibers unfurl from the walls, reach for me, then scoop me up. The lips of the WOOM draw back and the mouth opens wide to taste me, preparing to swallow me into the life of Diabolis Evomere. I hold my breath and wait as darkness follows and the icy flow of nanofibers penetrate my brain. Only two hundred and seventy-seven years to endure . . .
diabolis evomere
Have I the eyes of Eternity?
Have I the wisdom to see?
Do the roads of time lay bare for me?
And will there torture be?
ONE
I have transitioned. My world is new, and I have a mother. My eternal consciousness has duplicated many times over to merge with eggs inside her fertile womb. But I am not just a mind that inhabits an embryo: I am substance, form that has made
I am left with the irony of impatience as I wait a mere ten minutes for the Control Core to configure the Sub-human Sphere for my immersion. There was no WOOM installed. Why would there be if it was never intended for human visitation? I would be the first human to set foot inside it and the first and only person to walk the mindscape of a being whose thought processes would probably be completely alien to my own.
I stand outside the door, waiting, pacing, worrying. A part of me begs me to leave, to simply wait, because Qod is too powerful and wise to simply die in such a quick and insignificant way and to endure the pains of a creature who is not only genetically different from a human, but atomically different too, is foolhardy. But I have to go. I am compelled to do so, not just because of the sense of urgency that is steadily growing but because of the unpredictability, the sense of mystery, and the lure of the unknown. There is danger in that sphere, and I yearn to embrace it. I long to feel the reality of it, knowing thatâalthough the life itself is mere memoryâthe risk of exploring it is not a simulation. Most of my life has been a journey of virtual reality, but this . . . this is real danger. I do not know what the long-term results of an immersion like this will be, and Qod is not here to dissuade me.
The door opens.
I am used to seeing the cool aquamarine colors of the Bliss Sphere, but this is very different. The sphere colors usually match the moodâsensory hints about the type of experience awaiting the user. In here the mood is foreboding. The light is subdued. Gray gloom with the faint golden luminescence of a million soul files lining the walls. It reminds me of an overcast sky swollen with storm clouds behind which a bright sun struggles to peek through. I stand in the doorway, torn. A new WOOM levitates at the sphereâs center, waiting like a dark god to unfold its shroud, embrace me, then suffocate me within its greasy folds.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Select.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Subhuman. Possible incompatibility.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Aberration detected.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Override authorizedâID Salem Ben.
Subject X0.008130E+30: Activate. Immersion commences in three minutes.
Instinctively I ready myself to ignore the standard warning speech that accompanies immersion into a life memory, but Qod is not here, and it does not come. For some reason this worries me. It feels like the removal of a safety rail on the edge of a cliff that I always climb down anyway. As if I only now realize that there has always been someone there to catch me should I fall and that the precautionary chatter was more of a reassurance than a warning. I am in completely new territory. For the first time in millions of years, my palms are sweating.
A multitude of black, hair-thin fibers unfurl from the walls, reach for me, then scoop me up. The lips of the WOOM draw back and the mouth opens wide to taste me, preparing to swallow me into the life of Diabolis Evomere. I hold my breath and wait as darkness follows and the icy flow of nanofibers penetrate my brain. Only two hundred and seventy-seven years to endure . . .
diabolis evomere
Have I the eyes of Eternity?
Have I the wisdom to see?
Do the roads of time lay bare for me?
And will there torture be?
ONE
I have transitioned. My world is new, and I have a mother. My eternal consciousness has duplicated many times over to merge with eggs inside her fertile womb. But I am not just a mind that inhabits an embryo: I am substance, form that has made
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